PETA Files Complaint Against UCLA After Federal Violation

For Immediate Release:
July 11, 2023

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Vice President Dr. Alka Chandna regarding the critical violation posted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture against the University of California–Los Angeles for violations of federal animal welfare regulations:

The animal body count continues to rise at the University of California–Los Angeles (UCLA), as bumbling laboratory staff kill animals through their own brand of incompetence. The institution shouldn’t receive another penny of taxpayer funding for experiments on animals. PETA has filed a complaint with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), urging it to turn off the money spigot to the school.

According to a just-posted report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, two guinea pigs slowly and painfully suffocated after staff put them in an enclosure with far too little airflow. Staff also confused one rabbit identification number with another, causing one rabbit to endure a procedure without pain medication—the medication was administered to a rabbit who hadn’t undergone the procedure. In another incident, staff subjected another rabbit to surgery without the required preoperative medication.

UCLA, which last year received more than $594 million in taxpayer money from NIH, must redirect its resources toward modern, non-animal research methods that will actually help humans, and we urge officials there to adopt PETA’s Research Modernization Deal.

For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.